Wonderful evening!

I had a terrific time yesterday evening getting together with some of my high school classmates. It was great having time to chat and catch up on what's going on in everyone's life. I'm looking forward to the next event -- beach party, this summer! (note to self: increase gym time)

My mom is still holding on. She was recently diagnosed with Parkinson's, in addition to the other zillion things she's struggling with. I tease her that she gets half her calories from pills! It does seem as though she takes one step forward, then two steps back. She and my dad will never be able to live alone again -- she needs more care than he can handle by himself.

I had a chance to check on my folks' house. I started looking at it with an eye to selling. It'll just have go "as is." It needs way too much work. The next step will be convincing my dad it's time. Somehow I've got to make him think it's his idea...

SPIDERS - eeewwwww!

I killed two black widow spiders yesterday. Gross. Double gross. I hate hate hate spiders! Did I mention I hate spiders?

It looks like this is going to be another big year for those nasty critters. The worst was when we kept finding them ON THE FRONT PORCH. Did nobody tell them they're supposed to hide in dark places?!? Must've been mutants, or something.

EEEWWW!

Magic Eraser

I found a new use for a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser! Piano keys! It even removed most of the scotch tape one of my daughters (who shall remain nameless) used to label them with.

Rambling thoughts...

I read a magazine article today where a woman mentioned looking at old pictures of herself and realizing how hot she was before "neckular degeneration" set in. First, I nearly laughed myself under the table at her wonderfully descriptive phrase, and then started thinking about how self critical many of us are. And how that author still is, since she was basically saying that women with neckular degeneration can't be hot! And we all know that hotness is as hotness does, don't we?!?

I have a really cute picture of myself taking when I was about 21 -- looking lively, impish, sparklingly alive, with an adorably trim little figure. And I can totally remember how I felt about myself: too heavy, geeky glasses, breasts too small ... yet, through my eyes today, I was totally lovely! Weird.

My current philosphy (which I've managed to develop in the past half dozen years or so) is to like myself as I am. It doesn't matter if there are things I'd like to change (and there are, and I'm working on 'em), I am here today, and I'm me today, and I need to enjoy myself and be happy. And say nice things about myself. You know, "Don't worry, be happy!"

Heartily Sick of Flying!

I've actually lost count of how many times I've flown down to sit with my mother at the rehabilitation center (a.k.a. nursing home). I know it's been four times in the last six weeks. And I drove down three times in December (before she was hospitalized) and at least once in January (when we thought the end was imminent). Thank goodness Rebecca told me about all the special fares SouthWest has been offering! When I left the long-term parking lot Sunday evening and handed the attendant my $21 along with my parking ticket, he looked up in surprise and said, "You already know how much it is!" I answered, "I've done this before..." Boy, have I!

The good news about my mother doing so poorly (there's good news!?!) is now I can write anything I want in my blog, without having to worry about editing it for her eyes. I can even write about how tired, tired, tired I am of her constant complaints. I KNOW she feels badly, but talking about it and how incompetent the staff is constantly probably just MAKES HER FEEL WORSE! There. Got that off my chest.

Her spine is continuing to degenerate -- she's lost at least 5 inches in height, and who knows how much weight. She weighed 113 at her last weigh-in, which is up from a low of around 108. She's been having more and more difficulty using her legs. Her toes tend to turn in, and she has a lot of trouble getting her legs to do what she wants. She does have uterine cancer which is the slow-growing variety. A lot of what's wrong with her could be helped with surgery, but she's too weak for surgery. We thought she was having a heart attack several weeks ago, but it turned out to be angina again, I guess. The week-and-a-half back in the hospital weakened her even further. Her vision has deteriorated from the cataracts, and she's not hearing well (even with her hearing aids), so we can't entertain her anymore with books or TV. It's frustrating for all. It really is a downhill battle and just a matter of time before we lose her.

My next trip to see my mom is the last weekend of this month, so I'll have several weekends to catch up on stuff like ... oh, I don't know ... paying bills and doing my taxes for starters. She tried (and actually said that's what she was trying) to guilt me into coming back sooner, but I just can't. I really can't. I'm so totally burnt out. I feel badly for Jeannette who's shouldering most of the burden, and half the reason for my weekends there has been to give her a teeny bit of respite. She's had way more than her share of drama lately, in addition to caring for my folks.


At some point I'll go back and catch up on details of my Bonaire trip. I realize I left everybody hanging at Day 2. I do have notes and photos...just need to make the time to actually post them! It would be helpful if I finished up sharing the last trip before going on the next one. Honduras in May, if you're curious.

Long time, no hear

I've been spending a ton of time in southern California since my mother's been ill. The first trip was early December, and I've been averaging two to three trips per month ever since. Thank goodness for SouthWest Airlines! They been running specials, so each trip has been around $100, which is less than the gasoline and fast food would be if I drove!

My next trip (I'm in southern California right now) will be the last weekend of this month. My high school class is having a dinner that weekend, so I'm going to be taking a little side trip.

Bonaire Trip - Day 2

It was rather warm in Bonaire at 5:15 am -- about 81 degrees. It's always strange to me when it's warm before the sun comes up! We had a bit of a line to wait in to get through customs, but even that was interesting because we were serenaded the whole time by some tropical bird under the eves of the airport terminal.

After we gathered all our luggage, we found our way over to the car rental area. I say "car", but most rental vehicles on Bonaire are actually pick-up trucks. Like most I saw, ours had a crew cab and a wooden rack in the bed for carrying scuba tanks.



We managed to navigate our way pretty easily through Kralendijk in the dark. Fortunately, there were lots of signs - just no street signs, so my map was next to useless. First we headed toward downtown, and then followed the signs that said "hotels." When we got to the traffic circle (the only one on the island), we knew we were getting close.

As we were getting out of our truck at Captain Don's Habitat, I saw a shuttle full of people pulling in (obviously had arrived on our same plane), so we hustled a bit to get into the lobby ahead of them. We'd reserved a room for Friday night, so we were able to check right in.

There were several people on the shuttle (a single dive group) who were quite vocally amazed and annoyed that their rooms weren't ready for them. At 6 o'clock in the morning. What hotel on this planet has a 6 a.m. check-in time, I ask you?

Dive orientation was at 9, so we forced ourselves to stay awake for awhile after breakfast. It was very low key -- they checked our diver certification cards (affectionately known as "C" Cards) and explained the marine park rules. We were free to do our orientation dive on our own anytime the first day, so we went back to our room and slept about four hours. We were in no shape to be diving, tired as we were!

In the afternoon, after we bought our marine park tags and rented our gear, we took a nice dive off Baby Dock. 30 minutes, maximum depth 60 feet.

Then we had a delightful, delicious and leisurely dinner of lasagna at Pasa Bon Pizza.

Bonaire Trip - Day 1

We caught a mid-day flight to Houston where we had about a 6-hour layover. After a long, leisurely dinner at Pappadeaux in the airport, we sat near our gate and people watched. At Pappadeaux, I had the best Key Lime pie EVER! I also had a shrimp and crab cocktail and a crawfish platter.

I slept in bits and pieces on our redeye flight to Bonaire. The movie was Poseidon -- poor choice for someone going to spend a few days in the ocean, don't you think? I never plugged in my earphones, but I did watch the scene where the rogue wave rolls the cruise ship over....

We landed in Bonaire about 5:15 a.m.

Eek! I've been subpoenaed!

I checked my answering machine messages for this last week a little while ago, and there was a message from the DA's office about the subpoena I received to appear this Friday. Well...I don't have any subpoena, so I'll have to call the office tomorrow. I did enough research online to see that the number given on my machine is for the Witness Coordination Office.

I did get a letter a few months or so ago about someone who had some of my mail in his possession, and I filled out a form and returned it that said I didn't know the person and he didn't have permission to have my mail. Maybe it's about that.

I was subpoenaed about something very similar a couple of years ago. Maybe it's time to get a locking mailbox, huh?

Fire at Las Vegas' Venetian Hotel

Maybe I'm a bit of a disaster magnet...!

We were at the Venetian, watching "Phantom: The Las Vegas Spectacular", and when we came out of the hotel about 9 p.m., discovered the entire street was closed with police and fire vehicles everywhere:
http://www.klas-tv.com/Global/story.asp?S=5447704

Phantom was incredible -- absolutely an amazing, beautiful, breathtaking, wonderful program. Definitely worth seeing, if you get the chance.

We saw "Zumanity" Saturday night: http://www.zumanity.com/. It's the adult member of the Cirque du Soleil family -- really more of a variety show. Very racy, lots of nudity, varied from funny as heck to totally amazing and unreal.

And had incredible meals during the weekend at Michael's http://www.barbarycoastcasino.com/dining/michaels.php, Emeril's http://www.emerils.com/restaurants/lasvegas_fishhouse/index.html, and Commander's Palace http://www.commanderspalace.com/las_vegas/index.php.

Lovely anniversary roses...

The ladies I work with are jealous, and the men are hoping their wives don't find out, 'cause I get flowers every month!

Aren't I spoiled?

Found Hermione

Poor Hermione apparently crawled off into a dark corner of a seldom-used closet to die. I was sure she hadn’t died anywhere in the house, because we never smelled anything. Strange thing is there was never any odor. It’s like she just dried up. Poor little kitty.

9,000 Steps

I've been wearing a pedometer and attempting to walk at least 10,000 steps a day...with mixed results. Today's been so crazy that I've already completed 9,000 steps, and it's only lunch time! We call this the Harvest diet....

The IT Police

The latest site I can't access? ask.com!

Must be highly seditious or racy or something...

I just HATE getting the big "Access Denied" flashed across my screen.

I won't name names, but there's one person's blog I can't open from work -- it's a blogspot one, too. Makes no sense whatsoever!

Back in the old days, when I was in IT, our filter bumped anyone going to a site deemed inappropriate directly to disney.com. Of course, now disney.com is blocked. Go figure!

Charlotte, the Ogre...

I had to do something awful yesterday. I called Animal Control to have a stray dog carted away. I'd feel even worse if he'd been a nice dog, but he wasn't. Very skittish and sometimes aggressive, he tried to bite several of our employees. He looked to be an odd mix of pit bull and golden retriever.

It's a sad thing to have to do.

Stockton Arts Commission - 29th annual Arts Awards Celebration

Catherine will be singing "Cabaret" at this event -- another opportunity to see her perform!

* * * * *

The Stockton Arts Commission welcomes the Stockton community to attend its 29th annual Arts Awards Celebration Friday, October 20 at the Bob Hope Theatre.

Tickets are available through the Bob Hope Theatre Box Office for $15, $25 and $30.

As the Haggin Museum celebrates its 75th year, museum director Tod Ruhstaller will be honored with the top STAR award for his work over more than 20 years to develop the Haggin into Stockton’s premier cultural center. In addition to its major national fine arts exhibitions and the conservation and restoration of museum collections, Ruhstaller has developed partnerships with area arts organizations, introduced diverse cultural exhibits and expanded the museum’s reach into the community through education, events, workshops, tours, concerts and recitals.

A new Mayor’s Award will be presented this year to the Downtown Stockton Alliance Art Walk event for its successful inaugural season.

Owner and founder of the Harlequin House Art Center Maxine DalBen will be recognized with a Volunteer Award for her decades of instruction, encouragement and mentoring of artists at Harlequin House and at the Amador Art Camp she and her late husband began for talented minority youth.

The awards gala will also recognize several anniversaries in the regional arts. These include Education Through Music, Inc.-Musical Chairs Children’s Concert Series (25 years); Stockton Friends of Chamber Music (50 years) and the Haggin Museum (75 years).

For their contribution of art reviews in The Record, which have helped communicate much of the area’s art and culture to members of the community, the following individuals will also receive special recognition: Howard Lachtman (literary, restaurant and cinema), Sherman Spencer (music), and Diane Runion (theater and ballet).

In addition to these presentations, the Arts Awards Celebration will feature artistic displays, performances and a “Taste of Downtown” with samplings of downtown restaurant entrees and desserts. The event’s honorary host committee includes Marian Jacobs, Ron Berberian, Vince Perrin, Gil Dellinger, Judy Caruso-Williamson, and Maestro Peter Jaffe.

For information, phone (209) 937-7488.

When fast food isn't

Most everybody's heard my mini-rampages on "fast" food. The Burger King that was the worst offender no longer exists! They were also the drive-thru most likely to mess up my order. Last week, I made a quick side-trip into a Jack in the Box for a soft drink on the way back from another errand, and ended up waiting in line in my very hot car (Mustang) for about 15 minutes. The bright note? Because I'd waited so long, they didn't charge me. So, what started as a very negative experience turned out kind of positive.

I was reminded of the whole "convenience" thing again yesterday. I brought my car (Breeze) to SpeeDee to have the transmission serviced. They said it would take about half an hour. I was feeling a bit guilty about getting back for it an hour later until I saw it was sitting EXACTLY where I left it. It took nearly half an hour of waiting to find out they hadn't started on it, so we agreed they'd call me when it was ready (probably took another hour or so). If I'd been in a dreadful hurry or had been sitting in their dreadful waiting room* the whole time, it would have been a problem. Since I had Cat to ferry me around, it was no big deal.

*Okay...It's not truly dreadful. It's clean; there's coffee. But there's also always at least one restless, fidgety child, and it always feels crowded and cramped and noisy.

Precious roses - 28 months!

Images from Cabaret

"Don't Tell Mama!"


Cliff and Sally


Life is a Cabaret...

'Cabaret' gives audience a show from the risqué to the fabulous

Rhonelle Runner
Special to The Record
Published Tuesday, Aug 1, 2006

From the opening curtain, Stockton Theatre Project's production of "Cabaret" teeters purposefully between concealment and revelation. The costumes are often revealing, but the story line, like a strip-tease artist, leaves certain elements concealed for dramatic effect.

Derek Isetti stars as the show's wonderfully wicked Emcee (master of ceremonies) who invites audience members to forget their troubles at the cabaret. His long-sleeved shirt glimmers and sparkles, and yet the near-transparent fabric conceals nothing.

As the narrator of this dreamlike tale, the Emcee lets the audience in on some of his secrets, but leaves the show's other characters to grope their own way through the gathering darkness as the Nazis rise to power.

Cliff Bradshaw (Matt Voyer) is a poor American writer traveling to Berlin seeking inspiration for a novel. He interacts with Ernst Ludwig (Parker Cushing), a German businessman who recommends a rooming house and a nightclub where he might find the inspiration he seeks.

Cliff finds himself at the Kit Kat Klub, where the black-gartered Kit Kat Girls (and the androgynous Kit Kat Boys) entertain crowds eager to indulge in the decadent side of the Weimar Republic. There he meets Sally Bowles (Catherine Frye), an English transplant determined to blossom in the decadent lifestyle.

The two begin a relationship of convenience. As Berlin (and German society) begins to implode, so does their relationship. Cliff wants to take Sally home, but she wants to return to the life she knows in the cabaret.

Director Jim Coleman has assembled a great cast, and with this production, strikes a balance between decadence, indifference and fear.

Matt Voyer was convincing as the naive, goodhearted author. His warm baritone was strong but not overpowering. He and Catherine Frye worked well together, and by the end of the show, they really had the audience on their side.

Much of the show's nuance came from the supporting characters. The romance between Fraulein Schneider (Dorothy Mulvihill) and Herr Schultz (Ray Rustigian) was one of the high points of the production, while Cushing and Joanna Bernazzini realized the layers of personality of their characters, along with their political leanings.

Another revelation was Frye's vocal performance. She grabbed the opportunity to shine, first with "Don't Tell Mama," and then with the show-stopping "Cabaret," which suited her voice perfectly.

Musical director Paul Kimball and vocal director Timothy Swaim have produced fine overall performances, especially from the pit orchestra. Vocally there was only one noticeable exception - the Act I quintet "Tomorrow Belongs to Me."

Beverly Norcross' costumes, in keeping with the show's spirited tension, run from risqué to fabulous. Valerie Gnassounou-Bynoe's choreography was wonderfully varied, from raunchy burlesque to proper social dances.

In all, "Cabaret" succeeds because of its talented cast and its confident exploration of human relationships.